Is the b&w era of TV on DVD slowly coming to an end? (1 Viewer)

[ChrisALM]

In addition to the b/w shows mentioned previously, I would like to see Richard Diamond and Love That Bob. The Life of Riley with William Bendix would be great, but with Fox, I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm still hoping for more 50's TV.

 

[shoeshineboy]

The issue is that all of those shows were one season failures (The Reporter, the best of the 3, was a half season), made in black and white and long forgotten from 55 years ago. Not a high demand for Cara Williams, Harry Guardino or Paul Ford these days.

The public doesn't know what its missing -- we need more Paul Ford these days!

 

[LeoA]

Edit: I found my answer, so no need to send anyone on a search for what I asked (Was about an old tv series that was announced by VCI a few years back for DVD; Had some troubles locating it for sale but finally found it).

 

[ElPaBr]

Whatever happened to the rumor that Love That Bob was on the horizon? Did I make that up?

 

[Gary OS]

I'm still hoping for more 50's TV.

Other than the cut, non-remastered My Three Sons Season 5 set that was released at the every beginning of 2020, what other b&w TV shows have been released this year? Not being facetious. I sincerely have lost track.


Gary "with WA and CF doing nothing along these lines, and CBS apparently abandoning their MOD program, things look as bad as they ever have been for b&w TV" O.

 

[GMBurns]

Other than the cut, non-remastered My Three Sons Season 5 set that was released at the every beginning of 2020, what other b&w TV shows have been released this year? Not being facetious. I sincerely have lost track.


Gary "with WA and CF doing nothing along these lines, and CBS apparently abandoning their MOD program, things look as bad as they ever have been for b&w TV" O.

Gary, you're bringing me down, but I can't disagree with your assessment.

 

[Gary OS]

Gary, you're bringing me down, but I can't disagree with your assessment.

Sorry. Not my intent. Although misery does love company.


Gary "just kidding... kinda..." O.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

And actually you can’t even count My Three Sons. That Season 5 set came out last December.

 

[Gary OS]

And actually you can’t even count My Three Sons. That Season 5 set came out last December.

I thought so, but Amazon said January 2nd so I went with that. This means it's even worse than I thought!


Gary "can anyone think of a b&w TV release from 2020?" O.

 

[Dave Lawrence]

I thought so, but Amazon said January 2nd so I went with that. This means it's even worse than I thought!


Gary "can anyone think of a b&w TV release from 2020?" O.

That’s interesting. I bought my copy from SAE (Screen Archives Entertainment) in December. Deep Discount was also selling it in December but, as I recall, SAE had the better price at the time. Amazon was apparently late to the party.

I honestly can’t think of any B&W TV releases for this year. There hasn’t been much in the way of early color series either. I’m just glad Gunsmoke is finally complete as of this year.

I hope for a surprise at some point but I no longer expect anything. For a brief moment last year, there was some hope with Ben Casey and Our Miss Brooks; but with corporate changes, those hopes died after the Season 1 sets (which are certainly better than nothing).

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Given that CBS/Paramount just announced the complete Mission Impossible on Blu-ray when their M.O. recently has been to skip BD and in general has been to do individual seasons first, I’m cautiously optimistic that they’re reevaluating their product configurations and perhaps not exiting the marketplace entirely. If they’ve given up on the idea that this is a high volume, high profit segment of the market and instead accept that they can make a small but not meaningless amount by targeting the audience that does purchase this stuff instead of targeting the audience that they wish did, they might find a sustainable business model.

Probably $40 for a half season of Our Miss Brooks and the like isn’t doing anything in sales, but a complete series set for double that might move a few units, and the episodes were already transferred for syndication so the heavy lifting is already done.

 

[jcroy]

Given that CBS/Paramount just announced the complete Mission Impossible on Blu-ray when their M.O. recently has been to skip BD and in general has been to do individual seasons first, I’m cautiously optimistic that they’re reevaluating their product configurations and perhaps not exiting the marketplace entirely. If they’ve given up on the idea that this is a high volume, high profit segment of the market and instead accept that they can make a small but not meaningless amount by targeting the audience that does purchase this stuff instead of targeting the audience that they wish did, they might find a sustainable business model.

Probably $40 for a half season of Our Miss Brooks and the like isn’t doing anything in sales, but a complete series set for double that might move a few units, and the episodes were already transferred for syndication so the heavy lifting is already done.

Another possibility is ViacomCBS seeing the past sales/revenue of their licensed properties to VEI, where the latter sold complete series sets from the start. (CBS library stuff like Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Diagnosis Murder, etc ... outsourced to VEI).

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Another possibility is ViacomCBS seeing the past sales/revenue of their licensed properties to VEI, where the latter sold complete series sets from the start. (CBS library stuff like Barnaby Jones, Cannon, Diagnosis Murder, etc ... outsourced to VEI).

The second V/C announces an all in one Barnaby Jones blu with complete episodes, I'll buy it.

Never would give VEI my money for that half-assed, shoddy set they released with the syndication masters that looked like they were recorded off a UHF station in 1984 onto a VHS tape at SLP speed..

But that's not black and white. Their major B&W shows would be Lucy and Andy. I'd buy Andy, and Lucy as long as they fixed the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours.

 

[LeoA]

I've been watching season 1 of I Love Lucy recently on Blu-Ray. I think I'd only buy additional seasons of I Love Lucy if it saw a lot of extra care like the existing Blu-Ray releases did. The appeal of these aren't the picture quality since frankly it's hardly revelatory. What makes the Blu-Ray's special is the ability to watch the episodes as they first premiered.

If they just tossed their existing HD transfers for season 3 onward on Blu-Ray, I think my existing DVD complete series set would suffice since the leap in picture quality for seasons 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray frankly isn't a big one. But if the episodes are restored as much as possible to their form they were first broadcast in, CBS would have my support.

 

[The Obsolete Man]

I've been watching season 1 of I Love Lucy recently on Blu-Ray. I think I'd only buy additional seasons of I Love Lucy if it saw a lot of extra care like the existing Blu-Ray releases did. The appeal of these aren't the picture quality since frankly it's hardly revelatory. What makes the Blu-Ray's special is the ability to watch the episodes as they first premiered.

If they just tossed their existing HD transfers for season 3 onward on Blu-Ray, I think my existing DVD complete series set would suffice since the leap in picture quality for seasons 1 and 2 on Blu-Ray frankly isn't a big one. But if the episodes are restored as much as possible to their form they were first broadcast in, CBS would have my support.

That's why my purchase of Lucy on Blu would hinge on the Comedy Hours. The DVD release was crap. Never release edited episodes. But they did (minus the first one, which was 100% restored). Now, if a Blu set had all the content edited back in, no matter the quality, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

 

[jcroy]

The second V/C announces an all in one Barnaby Jones blu with complete episodes, I'll buy it.

Never would give VEI my money for that half-assed, shoddy set they released with the syndication masters that looked like they were recorded off a UHF station in 1984 onto a VHS tape at SLP speed..

But that's not black and white. Their major B&W shows would be Lucy and Andy. I'd buy Andy, and Lucy as long as they fixed the Lucy/Desi Comedy Hours.

Only reason I ever purchased large VEI/CBS complete series releases, was that I was able to find the disc-reduced Cannon complete series set for $26 at a nearby wallyworld a few years ago, or it was shows which appear to be edited on videotape or had some decent transfers from the 1990s (such as mod squad).

Basically impulse buys, which I wanted to watch it again.

Otherwise I avoided older VEI/CBS shows which were possibly edited on film.

 

[jayembee]

CBS/Paramount isn't quite dead yet. It's not b&w, but they did announce a Complete Series Blu-ray set for Mission: Impossible. I'm still waffling about it, as I've always felt so-so about the series, Even back when it was first on, I didn't consider it must-see TV, and only occasionally watched it.

I'm tempted to buy it to show support for vintage TV on Blu, but I'm not convinced that CBS/Paramount will see it as a general support for vintage TV, and just see it as a rare example of a show from that era being popular with a modern audience (like The Twilight Zone or Star Trek).

 

[Gary OS]

CBS/Paramount isn't quite dead yet. It's not b&w, but they did announce a Complete Series Blu-ray set for Mission: Impossible.

"It's not b&w" is the important part of the above quote. I've not once suggested that color TV on DVD is slowly dying or going to disappear. I figure if a series was done in color it's still got a shot at a release or an upgraded re-release. And make no mistake, there are a few series that I'd purchase if they were offered. But this thread is about b&w TV on DVD and it most certainly appears 2020 is shaping up to be the year where it kicked the bucket.


Gary "no offense to Jerry or anyone else mentioning some color shows at all - I'm just pointing out the fact that I've never argued color shows on DVD are going extinct" O.

 

[bmasters9]

But this thread is about b&w TV on DVD and it most certainly appears 2020 is shaping up to be the year where it kicked the bucket.

That's very sad, IMO-- I know a lot of us here have a good many B/Ws in our collections, and there have been plenty of excellent ones thereto, but if B/Ws stop being released, in favor of everything new and current today (and only that), that will be a sad day for the industry.

 

[JamesSmith]

the past is never gone, as long as we remember.

We remember a time when less was more.
Talent was used on television programs.
People took time to write theme songs.
Actors could actually act.
Good guys and bad guys were clearly delineated by the use of cues and close ups.
The days of the week were delineated by what programs were on.
Weekends actually had original episodes.

We remember.

--james